CITY TEENS SHOOT TO TOP OF INDUSTRY

3 April 2013

Five young people from Cardiff kick-start their careers with npower What’s Your Goal?

Over the past fortnight, five lucky 14-16 year olds have been shadowing experts at Cardiff City to gain invaluable work experience in a wide range of roles from PR Manager and Community Coach to Events Manager.

Getting a taste of a career within the football industry were Kylie Nolan, Harvey Stockford, Hannah Case, Shannon Harrison and Ieuan Ridout. During their time at the Club, the teens were thrown in at the deep end, experiencing the day-to-day lives of their mentors, in order to gain a genuine experience of what it is like to do these coveted roles within the nation's favourite sport.

The teens won the opportunity after applying for npower What’s Your Goal 2013, an intiative which encourages youngsters across the UK to start thinking about their careers by allowing them to experience, first-hand, exactly what football’s world of work is really like.

What’s Your Goal? was launched in 2011 by nPower, with a national scheme that gave 11 teenagers the chance to shadow and be mentored by high profile professionals within the the football industry, with the aim of showing young people that they don’t have to play football to become a key player in the game.

Now in its third year, What’s Your Goal? has grown to include all 72 clubs in The Football League, offering over 350 local work experience placements up and down the country. In addition to these opportunities, nPower is also offering 11 young teens the chance to spend the day with one of 11 high profile women from the world of sport, including Clare Balding, Jacqui Oatley and Kelly Smith.

Giving more young people the chance to try their hand at something new, there is also a one-off exciting work experience opportunity for 16-18 year olds in East London at Leyton Orient FC.

Of the project, Joel Hutton, Community Education Project Co-ordinator at Cardif City said: "nPower What’s Your Goal? is a brilliant initiative that offers young people a real opportunity to get their feet on the football career ladder. We are glad that we have been able to help young people in our community reach their potential and expand on their workplace skills.

"Everyone at the Club thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the scheme and we wish all of the teens the best of luck in their future careers."

Clare McDougall, Head of Education and Community at npower, added: "What's Your Goal? offers young people a behind-the-scenes look into football clubs across the UK. They will be making decisions, carrying out actions and being held responsible, just as they would if they were doing the jobs for real.

"These young people in Cardiff have shown that when given the opportunity, teens can really add value to workplaces. Initiative such as npower's What's Your Goal? let them extend their workplace skills, but also bring new insight to employers as well. We hope this initiative has motivated teens across the UK to start thinking about their careers."